Endless Summer/ ✔️

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The boys and I had been home for two weeks now, waiting for Lauren and Zach to come home at any moment. Lauren had been sending me pictures and videos of the three family members and I had never been more at peace.

"Okay, okay. I have one," Jack laughed. "Would you rather eat a handful of worms or never get to drink coffee again?" He asked. Jonah pretended to think about the question. But we all knew the answer to that one.

I sat down a plate of bacon in the center of the table while we waited for the answer from Jonah. "I think you would be crazy to give up your coffee," Anna added. Jonah rolled his eyes as he bumped her shoulders and gave her a sly smile. The two had been inseparable since they got back from Florida and I thought things were getting pretty serious. Even though Anna was only eighteen, I thought that Jonah might ask her to move in at some point.

Corbyn and Christina had called it quits and went ways. Now, she was focusing on getting her life together on the opposite side of the country. Jack still had ahold of a guy from a few towns over but that was slowly getting lost as well.

"You said that-" I started, but was interrupted when the front door flew opened. Lauren walked into the house, holding Alyssa in her arms. At her feet, sat a car seat, some of their personal bags and a few store bags. Zach was struggling to get the suitcases through the door.

"A little help here? Please?" Zach asked. The boys hopped up to help Zach with the things in the doorway as Lauren handed me Alyssa. She felt so weightless in my arms and I wanted to kiss her all over.

As I cooed, Daniel sat one of the bags onto the bar. "You guys came at the perfect time. I just finished breakfast. Sit and eat. I'll take care of Alyssa," I said waving off Lauren. She gave me a reassuring look before she sighed and sat down at the table. Gently, I rocked Alyssa until she fell asleep.

Daniel stood next to me, and noticed when my stomach began to growl at the smell of the breakfast. "Maya, let me take her. I already ate and you need to . I can hear your stomach from the table," he offered. I hesitated. "Maya," he whispered.

Finally, I gave up and handed Alyssa over to Daniel. I watched him disappear up the stairs as I sat down to enjoy the food I had just cooked. Everyone talked about the long days when we didn't have Zach yelling at the TV or when we all sat around the campfire and laughed about stupid things. Now all of that, was going to change.

I washed up the dishes, cleaned up the rest of the kitchen and picked out what to make for lunch. Lauren and Zach had disappeared to the deck outside with Jonah and Anna. Jack and Corbyn had settled in front of the TV, playing whatever game was all the rage right now. Daniel was still upstairs with Alyssa and I hadn't heard a peep from him since.

Quietly, I crept up the stairs and pushed open the door to the nursery. Daniel was standing over the bed, looking down at the baby. "Did you just get locked in here or what?" I whispered as I walked over to him. Daniel opened his arms as an invite and wrapped me close to his chest. Together, we watched Alyssa sleep peacefully. "What are you thinking about?" I asked. His arms tensed up a little and his eyebrows furrowed. He was thinking about something important.

"I was just thinking," he started. I couldn't take my eyes off of his blue ones and he couldn't take his eyes off of Alyssa. "We are so good together. It's been quite a while and we have such a connection, Maya. The day at the hospital, I was thinking about what the guys said to us. About babies and getting married. I think-"

"Wait," I interrupted. I didn't know what was about to come but if it was something like I thought, I wanted to stop it before it was too late. "You aren't proposing, are you?" I joked. Daniel's eyes widened.

"No, no. I was just saying, that maybe one day in the near future, we could think about that option- The marriage, not the baby," he assured. "But one day, it would be nice to refer to you as Mrs. Holmes and have a house to ourselves."

"To ourselves? Meaning, we would leave the other to move away?" I asked, slightly pulling apart.

"Yeah. I just thought that since we would be married, then we would live by ourselves. In case we wanted to start our own family. I'm sure Zach and Lauren feel the same way."

"No, I know. I just thought that since this was the house where everything started, we would stay here. I'm sure everyone would be okay with that. And if not, then I would be okay with moving somewhere else, as long as it's remotely close. I wouldn't want to just up and leave something we have now, that's too fantastic," I rambled. Daniel sighed and moved to grab my hands. Just the way we were standing, made me think of what that day would be like when I actually got to stand at the alter with him. But I was thinking too quickly.

"Maya, I promise you that nothing is set in stone. I just figured maybe you'd want a normal shot at being a married couple in the future and have our own place to rule. We could always stay here and just live like the cool people," Daniel laughed. I pulled him back into a hug and faced the little baby in the bed again.

I wasn't going to lie. I wanted all of those things he talked about. But I didn't want them at the moment. To me, it wasn't right. "Maybe we should get the others opinions about this before we do anything important. Okay?" I asked. Daniel smiled as he flipped the switch to the baby monitor. "Besides, there is so much fun we could have while we are still doing what we are doing," I said with a wink.

"Oh yeah?" Daniel said as he bent down to kiss me. "Maybe we can take this somewhere where there isn't  a baby present?" He said between kisses. I felt my heart slightly flutter as he pulled me down the stairs.

In the living room, the TV had quieted, Lauren and Zach were standing near the patio door and Jonah and Anna were pitching a laughter fit with the others. "What are you all laughing about?" I asked. Corbyn cleared his throat as he stood from the couch.

"Make sure you, 'Go somewhere where there isn't a baby present.'  You guys do know that the monitor has been on down here?" He laughed. I felt the heat rush to my cheeks. Daniel squeezed my hand and pulled me in to kiss him. I would never get used to feeling his kiss.

Just as we pulled apart, the front door opened and a cell phone began to ring. Eben came strolling into the door, with Jon on his heels. Zach was on the phone, getting excited about something. "What is happening?" I asked Eben.

Eben looked at Jon and back then back to us and opened his mouth to speak but was stopped. Zach hung up the phone, and bounced over to us. "We're getting a deal!" He shouted. I felt my heart stop.

"Excuse me?" Daniel said, stepping towards Eben. "What kind of deal are we getting?"

"Well, Jon and I were talking to some record labels and there was one in particular that wants you guys to come to a local studio and record something. If they like it, they want you guys to write a song. Become a band and all that great stuff!" Eben explained. The boys erupted into cheers only quieting when they heard Alyssa stirring upstairs.

"Wait, so this is our shot?" Jack asked. Eben smiled at Jon and then at the rest of us.

"The one and only."